Simon And Garfunkel's Sound Of Silence

In the 1960s, Rock ‘n’ Roll was replaced in popularity by other branches of rock such as Acid Rock, Psychedelic Rock and Hard Rock as a hippie counter culture arose, mainly to protest against the Vietnam war. These new forms of rock provided social commentary on the wide range of assassinations and anti-civil rights actions that infested the country, and united those that wanted to end them. They too celebrated anti-authority actions, but now they were used to promote peace and drugs. Americans—mainly college students—were still rebelling against societal constraints, but instead of fighting against the conformity of white suburbia and their parents, they were uniting to fight against U.S. governmental authority. Rock in the 1960s still mainly appealed to the younger generations, but its influence was spreading. Folk Rock (Bob Dylan) was playing in protest, reminding the individuals there that they were fighting for peace, and Psychedelic Rock—which replicated or enhanced the mind altering experience of psychedelic drugs—created a soothing and new atmosphere in the U.S. Music festivals such as Woodstock in 1969 sprung up to promote peace, do drugs, listen to music, and enjoy being alive and young.6 However, this element of extreme partying and pleasure, eventually brought a few stars to early deaths, such as Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. In the

Into the 2nd half of the decade came the arrival of The Rolling Stones and The Who. These continued along the Blues Rock path pioneered by Cream and Zeppelin, and both had great success. It was these acts that led to the nickname, ‘the swinging 60’s’. 1966 saw the beginning of psychedelic music. It was The Beatles who first began to experiment like this. Adding new

The hippie aesthetic era was an important time in rock and roll during the late 60’s and on into the early 80’s. It was a time were rock had a sense of purpose. They sung about the issues that plagued the country. It was also a time where technology would play an important roll in the sound of music, with the advancement in recording and synthesizer technology (Covach, “The Hippie Aesthetic”). The hippie aesthetic was not immune to the advancement of music. This essay will go over three songs that represent the different aspects of this era. It’ll will review a song that is predominately hippie aesthetic, a song that is a little of both, and finally a song that has no trace of hippie aesthetic.

The decade of the 1960s can be said to be a subversion of the United States. From the civil rights movements, anti-Vietnam war demonstration, Kennedy’s presidency, to the assassination of the civil rights leader Martin Luther King, the impact of the surging social movements and political turmoils to the American society is extremely far-reaching. There has been a lot of researches on the various social movements in this period. However, people 's attention seems to be limited to another important cultural phenomenon of this period, that is the prosperity of rock & roll. This paper is intended to analyze the

In the sixties, the psychedelic music scene was at its prime and the world was full of hippie musicians that loved to drop acid and create some of the most interesting and innovative music known to man. During this time, drugs were a very popular part of the hippie culture and the prevalence of LSD helped to create the distinct genre of psychedelic music known as psychedelic or acid rock. Many bands and artists such as Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, The Beatles, and The Byrds were heavily influenced by LSD, which led to the creation of some very popular music. This decade was full of adventure, music, sex, and drugs, and it was all made possible due to this powerfully trippy drug.

One of the most well-known things about the sixties is its music. Bands in the sixties started to break the conservative boundaries by talking about drugs and sex in their music; the drugs and sex revolution in this music also

Around the same time within the late 1960’s, a new hippie movement was forming, which was often described as a counterculture.

Another area that new music was beginning to develop was in the slums of San Francisco. The Haight-Ashbury district would spawn acts such as Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, and the Grateful Dead. San Francisco had developed a consciousness about rock. Janis Joplin left in 1967 and traveled to Texas where she found her claim to fame. Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead stayed in Sna Francisco playing in small theatres and venues. The most famous of these was the Filmore West. The combination of this improvisational rock bands and psychedelic drugs produced a subculture never seen before. The hippies had invaded the United States. Jimi Hendrix helped pave this new style of music. "He challenged people with his extensions of the guitar into all sorts of realms that had been overlooked, ignored, or undiscovered." The improvisational rock was strongly supported by an underground force that helped the band in many ways. They gained the band popularity by spreading the word, they kept the venues packed by

"We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." This quote was once said by a humble man whose name was, Elie Wiesel. He was a strong, but gentle man who had never thought he would undergo the pain that he endured. Elie lived humbly but happily with his family, which he adored. He had two older sisters, one younger sister, and two happily married parents. He was very religious and stuck to his Jewish beliefs and traditions. For the most part, everybody in his community treated each other with benevolence, respecting each others beliefs and traditions. Elie was just a normal kid wanting to live as much of a normal life as possible. He never looked for trouble or ways to hurt someone, he just wanted peace and love in his life. Elie also stated that "No

In Night by Elie Wiesel, silence is a reoccurring theme that represents many aspects of Wiesel’s struggle during the most coldblooded massacre in the history of the world. Although silence may seem unimportant, Wiesel’s remarks about this theme symbolizes far more. He believes it is silence that allows the Nazis to takeover and begin the slaughtering. Wiesel emphasizes that silence is the only appropriate response to the Holocaust because the events that took place at Auschwitz have caused language and words to seemingly have lost their meaning; the words people use to describe what happened cannot even compare to the reality of the event. Language no longer has any power to express the truth of what happened to the Jewish people during this inhumane mass execution. Wiesel uses silence to intensify dramatic effect, to suggest the indescribable, and to symbolize the loss of faith.

Beginning with the late 1960’s counterculture in San Francisco, music and drugs will forever be inter-linked. Hippie bands such as the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers, and Phish are associated with marijuana, mushrooms, and LSD. Modern electronic “rave” , or club music is associated with MDMA or Ecstasy. When one thinks of rock and roll, sex and drugs immediately come to mind. While the use of drugs is not essential for the creation or performance of all new music, it was certainly in important factor for the counterculture music of the late 1960’s. While some of the most important and influential music was made with the help of psychoactive drugs, it was often to the detriment of the artist. Janis

Woodstock has been portrayed by the media to be the most important and influential festival of the sixties, however that may not be the case. The Monterey Pop Festival is one of the pre-Woodstock festivals that had the same or more effect on the culture of the 1960s. The Monterey Pop festival took place directly in the center of the counter culture seen during the movements’ most important year, 1967. The summer of 1967 is the most important year of the hippie movement because it gave the movement nationwide awareness. It may have also led to the demise of the Cultural Revolution. The best example of the summer of love was where it originated at the corners of Haight and Ashbury Street in the bay area of San Francisco, California. This would be the location of the year’s most important rock festival (Perone 1). The narcotics LSD and Marijuana were the fuel for the Bay Area music scene. The drugs were at the height of their use in 1967 influencing the various psychedelic acts that were then becoming nationwide hits. Some of the area bands that would soon gain importance in the music world were The Grateful Dead, The Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Steve Miller Band, and Santana. In the striving music and cultural scene America’s first

The “hippies” of the 1960s had many effects on the American society. The visual appearance and lifestyle of the hippies were in sharp contrast to the conservative nature of the older generation, which defined them as a counterculture. The hippie lifestyle was based on free love, rock music, shared property, and drug experimentation. They introduced a new perspective on drugs, freedom of expression, appearance, music, attitudes toward work, and held a much more liberal political view than mainstream society.

that of The Beatles. The Bay area was known for creating great bands, but more and more psychedelic bands were beginning to form all over the world, including Pink Floyd, a band from Europe (Scaruffi).

The book Silence, by Shusako Endo follows a theme of a silent God who accompanies a believer in adversity. The main character of the book is Sebastian Rodrigues. It tells of Sebastian Rodrigues’ arduous journey halfway around the world to Japan in the 1630s, in order to track down a rumor that his mentor Father Ferreira had abandoned his faith, at a time where the Japanese leaders were extremely hostile to foreigners and Christianity and also suspicious of their intentions. He travels with two other missionaries but one of them falls sick whilst travelling and is deemed unfit to carry on to accompany him. The book is not fast paced, but immensely character driven. For example, we see the growth of Sebastian Rodrigues as a priest. At one point he labels Kichijiro a coward. “Was it possible that he was of our faith – this wretch.” Here we see him being judgmental. However, later in the novel we see him for the first time-sharing a proper